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  • BEGIN: Monkey: Journey to the West debuts July 9 at the start of this year's Lincoln Center Festival in New York City
  • WONDERLAND: The Monkey King frolicks with his lessers in their homeland, Monkey Park
  • MAGIC: Monkey King dives into the Eastern Sea to retrieve his signature staff from the Old Dragon King
  • CHINESE HEART: Spinning plates, acrobatics, falsetto and kungfu are pure Chinese sensibilities in this musical
  • KUNGFU: The Monkey King fights the White Skeleton Demon
  • ANNOYANCE: The hand of the Buddha deals with the monkey pest at the behest of the Queen Mother of Heaven
  • GENDER BENDER: Tripitaka is played by female Peking Opera singer Li Li. In the original classic, the monk is charged with retrieving Buddhist scriptures from India, and is accompanied by a group of penitent demons
  • PIGSY: For his excesses as General of the Heavenly Reeds in the Heavenly River, the indulgent Pigsy was demoted and accidentally reincarnated into a pig's body before being ordered to accompany Tripitaka
  • DIABOLO: Costumes, scenery, and score combine the elements of East and West. Here, performers incorporate Chinese yo-yos into their choreography
  • FUN & FANTASY: Writer and director Chen Shi-Zheng conceives of the piece as a circus incorporating martial arts choreography in acrobatics
  • SEDUCTION: The alluring Spider Women is one of the obstacles in the journey
  • CONCEPT: Visual mastermind Jamie Hewlett turned to Japanese manga and 16th-century illustrations when creating costumes
  • INCARNATION: The Princess Iron Fan
  • LEAPING LEGEND: The Monkey King performs in an acrobatic fight sequence with Princess Iron Fan
  • GYMNASTICS: The Jiangsu Yancheng Acrobatic Co. performs
  • PARADISE: Accompanied by the Monkey King, Pigsy, Sandy and a white horse, Tripitaka finally arrives in the Pure Land and receives a reward from heaven
  • PAGODA OF BOWLS: The Jiangsu Yancheng Acrobatic Co. performs
  • FUNKY MONKEY: Though American audiences are generally unfamiliar with the Monkey tale, the classic adventure is reminiscent of the Odyssey, Wizard of Oz and Lord of the Rings

Photos by Stephanie Berger

Monkey: Journey to the West debuts in New York July 9 at the Lincoln Center Festival.

The 110-minute spectacle of acrobatics, animation, kungfu and an eclectic musical score follows the journey of Chinese folk hero the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong in Chinese, to the West (today's India) along with monk Tripitaka or Xuanzang in Chinese and his followers. The Monkey King is a well-known and beloved character in China but this futuristic take on the classic story is a different entity entirely.

The show made its first appearance at the Manchester International Festival in England in 2007. It then showed in Paris and at the Spoleto Festival USA and the Royal Opera House in London. Bringing it to New York City feels like "coming home," said writer and director Chen Shi-Zheng.

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